


36 Hours

by KatieComma



Series: MacGyverAppreciationFortnight [2]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Betrayal, Gen, Team as Family, Treason
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-19
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2019-07-14 05:07:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16033589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatieComma/pseuds/KatieComma
Summary: Jack's turned traitor and Mac's finally tracked him down.





	36 Hours

**Author's Note:**

> Please don't take this too seriously... I know there's a few issues with it... but it was just meant to be a bit of fun.

Mac pushed the elevator doors open and looked in each direction before he walked quietly down the hall, keeping to the wall. It was brightly lit, there was no hiding from the human eye, but Riley had shut all the cameras in the building down, so he just had to worry about people now.

Matty spoke up in his earpiece. “Listen Mac, I know this one is personal for you, but you’ve gotta keep your head, ok?”

Mac was tired of the litany she’d been spewing for the last hour. Phrases like: “It’s just like any other mission.” “Objective is to bring them in alive.” She’d been going on and on. It was starting to make him angry. So close now he didn’t need the Phoenix’s guidance anyway and he ripped his earpiece out and smashed it against the wall, dropping the inert electronic to the soft carpeting.

The room was close now, and he felt like he was buzzing with the anticipation of the confrontation ahead. He needed answers. The why, he just needed to know the why.

A locked door. Another barrier between him and his mark. Those barriers had added up over the last 36 hours and he was getting annoyed. But this one was easy. Mac pulled out the master key card Riley had programmed and tapped it against the electronic lock. It beeped, the light turned green, and the handle turned with ease.

Inside, the hotel room was lavishly decorated. Best suite in the house.

Jack sat on the white leather couch, looking out at the Las Vegas skyline, facing away from Mac.

“I’ve been waitin’ on you,” Jack said. Good old Jack, his voice still jovial. Except he had no reason to be happy now that he was a traitor to the US government.

“I should have known it would be Vegas,” Mac said. “You told me once: Vegas is always on the way. I guess I should have known you’d pass through at some point.”

Jack stood up, classic Jack smile on his face. He was holding two beers and he held one out to Mac.

Mac frowned. “No, I’m good thanks.”

“Come on, I got a lot to celebrate,” Jack said, still grinning.

“Jack, what is the matter with you?” Mac asked. “You know I’m here to bring you in, right?”

“That I do,” Jack said, his grin fading to contentment. “And if my calculations are correct, brainiac, it took you just over 36 hours to track me down.”

Mac was confused. “Does it matter how long it took? You know you’re going to prison, right? You’re not gonna ‘turn me to the dark side.’”

“Oh, I ain’t goin’ to prison,” Jack said, setting one of the beers down and sipping back on the other one.

“Jack, you committed treason,” Mac said, “that’s what they do with traitors. But I still don’t understand why. It kinda came out of nowhere. You owe me an explanation.”

“36 hours,” Jack repeated, his Cheshire-like grin returning.

Mac lost his patience and yelled: “What does it matter?”

“Come on Mac,” Jack said in his buddy-buddy voice. “After everything I’ve done for the ole US of A. After everything we’ve been through? You think I’m gonna throw all that away for a payday?”

“But you did!”

“Naw,” Jack said with a wink. “You remember when you said that if I ever betrayed you the way Walsh did your old man that you’d catch me in a day? Tops?”

Mac was confused. What the hell did any of this have to do…

“No,” Mac said aloud.

Jack’s grin widened to include teeth.

“You didn’t,” Mac said.

“Matty helped me set the whole thing up,” Jack said. He picked up the second beer again and offered it.

Mac took it this time and threw back a generous gulp. Matty had helped Jack set up fake treason so Mac would have to hunt him down? Wow. What a great use of government resources.

“Wait,” Mac said. “If Matty helped you then it’s not fair.”

Jack was quick to refute that claim. “Matty helped set up the backstory, but once I was out in the wild it was all Jack Dalton,” he said. “Which means, I win.”

“Win what?” Mac asked.

“The bet,” Jack said.

“What bet?”

“The bet that you could nab me in less than a day.”

“I never bet you,” Mac scoffed.

“I like to think it was an unspoken bet,” Jack reasoned.

“Alright, so what was the wager?” Mac asked, flopping down onto the couch. After 36 hours straight he was worn out.

Jack sat down next to him, and picked up another beer from the case on the table. “I dunno, we never talked about it.”

Mac laughed at that and offered his bottle to Jack. The bottles clinked together and the partners sat watching the Vegas skyline twinkle. In the last day and a half Mac had felt like an hourglass, life flipped around, sand tossed this way and that. But now he’d been righted again and everything was alright.

A quick call to Matty confirmed that all was right with the world again and Mac finally relaxed back into the couch. 36 sleepless hours had taken their toll on him and it wasn’t long before he drifted off to sleep. He’d be mad at Jack and Matty in the morning.

**Author's Note:**

> For MacGyverAppreciationFortnight - the theme today is: Favourite Quote
> 
> Jack: I mean, can you imagine if I went bad and you had to hunt me down?
> 
> Mac: I mean, I'd catch you in, like, a day.
> 
> Jack: A day? Yeah, you wish.
> 
> Mac: At most.


End file.
